Keeral, following the text in the large book, stretched the hand and took the small glass of water from the table. He was already tired but too excited to stop reading. The history of Karmala was thrilling fairytale, morbid in some places, but also it was touching the depths of his elven heart.

He was reading the old scripts written by elves in the early times, called the Era of Youth. They were so innocent! Now it would be punished, to laugh like them in public; they were slaves without rights and that he, Keeral, had a place in the castle, was true mastership of his mentor.

As if called, Raithea appeared in the library. He held two huge tomes with carvings on the edges that depicted roaring lions. He was wearing black toga with high collar; his eyes were smiling.

"So here you are, Keeral" he said with nonchalant tone and put the tomes on their places on the shelves. "You don't have...family meeting? I gave them one week of free time, it was the only thing I could do in this situation."

"No, lord Rhuitaure, I am free tonight. I thought..."

Raithea examinated his pupil's face. He was excited and he wanted to tell him something. He ordered him to study history of their race to teach the boy how everything looked in the old times. Now youngs didn't have personality and background, it had to be fixed in their early age to correct their path.

"You...want to stay with me?"

"That too, master, but I found something new in this book..." he patted the script with hand that didn't hold glass of water. When he realized he didn't put it down, he did it quickly and stood from the chair, taking the book with him. He stepped closer to Raithea and pointed at something in the mass of text. "I didn't know that humans took the believes of elves and adapted them to their own culture. I've never knew we had goddess of fertilization!"

Raithea smiled. It was known fact for the older elves but as his previous thought went, the young ones didn't know the Era of Youth. It was beautiful time when elves were gaining more that their were giving and as he remembered well, he was part of great cult of Shjamea, the mentioned goddess. It was before he learned how to survive in the world of humans. He was so naive then.

"Yes, we had. But now old gods are abandoned and forgotten and humans call them by their own names. Elves don't identify with old times, they only strive to survive...which is normal in this world."

The sadness sounded in the voice of older elf and his boy face seemed to gain some sharp features that were never there before. His apprentice was as naive as he in the Era of Youth. Time will make him less naive and more bitter but it was better for him. If he stayed in his current innocence, humans could harm him. Raithea had nothing against violence, more, he liked it, but never targeted at people from his own race.

"You will see how many gods are now under the names of humans deities. Mainly gods connected with force of nature and fertility. They even didn't have originality to create their own believes."

"Do...do you still believe in Shjamea, lord Rhuitaure?"

"No...not anymore. Gods didn't help us when we needed it." Raithea's tone became harsh and he took the script from his pupil's hand. "Don't ask stupid questions, Keeral."

He turned back from young elf and still with book in his hand, he headed to entrance to library. As he knew that Keeral doesn't follow him, he moved the hand at his direction.